John Barclay’s been through an earthquake in the last week – so England should be no great shakes.
At least if the ground shakes at Murrayfield today it will be most likely from the stands rocking in support of Barclay’s Scotland, but last week back in Mumbles was something else.
Barclay spent some time back home in West Wales ahead of this afternoon’s Six Nations encounter against the Auld Enemy, which proved a hairier experience than he was expecting.
He said: “It was scary. The whole house shook for about 10 seconds – my five-year old came running through and said ‘Dad, it wasn’t me’!
“You learn a lot about yourself in a very short time. But I came through that, so this weekend should be no problem.”
That said, it is a formidable task to win the Calcutta Cup against Eddie Jones’ England, who have shown few signs of vulnerability since the AUstralian first piloted them in Edinburgh just over two years ago.
Barclay said: “They have won 23 out of the last 24 games. They have to be clear favourites with their record. Their record against Scotland alone makes it pretty clear.
“That said, Ireland beat them last year and every team is beatable, there has not been a team in history that has won every game. But England are a quality side. It is a huge task for us to knock them off.”
The key to that for Scotland is a performance from Finn Russell and Barclay believes it will come this afternoon. He has had some games when he has not played as well as he could but he typically bounces back.
“He maybe has not had his best first two games but he has done some good things. The scrutiny is always huge on the 10 and the nature of the beast is that the negatives are being pointed out more than the positives just now. But Finn thrives on pressure. He loves that element of the game. He has trained really well and relishing this weekend. “
While the welcome to England at Murrayfield will be expectantly hostile, Barclay is slightly puzzled by his opposite number Chris Robshaw’s assertion that Edinburgh is a difficult place to go to because of the awkwardness put in visiting teams’ way. Robshaw cited the slow piping of the bus into the stadium and the famous pillar in the centre of the away visiting room that so used to annoy Sir Clive Woodward when he was England coach.
Barclay said: “We get piped in as well and I don’t think it is as big a deal. The piper goes in front of your bus. I suppose if you don’t like the piper you can get out and walk.
“But the Southern Hemisphere teams love coming to Murrayfield. It is one of the iconic stadiums in world rugby. (All Black captain) Kieran Read told me after the game in November how much they enjoy it.”
